Episode 24
Summary The encounter with Jericho and Ellen sparks an argument with Warren, who regrets their murder despite that it led to his rescue. Clay decides he is going to attempt to resurrect Ellen and brings her body with him. This persuades Warren to stay. Tensions run high as the party rides along the shortcut to Oleander, overnight, they are attacked by a behir. Recap * Rogg attempts to explain what he experienced, saying that he saw a great woman clad in armor and that he'd be allowed to come back if he remembered who he was. This entity is more than likely Syndir. * While Clay is still standing triumphantly over the dead body of Jericho, Warren heals Rogg and then begins to walk away. Clancy relents, but Warren explains that while he wanted help it doesn't mean that they had to resort to killing everyone. * Clay suddenly notices that Ellen is dead and approaches the group, frustrated. Warren is still understandably upset and tells everyone that he's going to Sanctum, regardless if they have a lead in fixing his arm, as their heist has made him into an extremely wanted man. Keegan tries to entice him to stay by elaborating that the lead likely involves some sort of surgery to remove the object causing his infliction. Warren seems unmoved. * Clay voices his intention of going back to Bastion in hopes that the church there will have a cleric capable of resurrecting her so that he can keep his promise to Emmett. This goes down poorly, not just because Bastion likely doesn't have a cleric capable of resurrection but because she's also technically an enemy. Warren explains that she's a good person, and that if not for Ellen that Jericho would've killed him outright. * Clancy attempts to desecrate the corpse of Ellen, but is stopped. Clay seeks assistance from Warren to lift her body onto one of the horses in order to get it away from further tampering. * Keegan asks Warren what happened to have led to his arrest, Warren explains that it was during a mishap during the gnoll raid. Apparently, things like his arm is an occurrence that's happening all over the place and the Order is attempting to investigate what's causing it. * Clay asks if there's anyone coming with him to Bastion and explains his plan revolving around deceiving the clergy there, but Jaime tells the party that the type of resurrection is likely unavailable there and that they'll likely have to go to Oleander to stand any chance. Clay says that's fine, but he doesn't want anyone else to touch the body. Clay and Clancy fight again. *After some more conversation, everyone collectively decides that they'll be continuing on the road to Oleander. Warren reluctantly agrees to follow, too. *Warren reminds the party that there's apparently a sniper to the south picking off individuals from the Order, although he doesn't know much about them and the only information he has was overheard from Ellen and Jericho. Jaime asks if he's heard anything else, and Warren adds that apparently he's the first person to be infected with what's happening to his arm. Before, it was only animals. *Clancy finds a staff carved in the shape of a snake. Clancy also attempts to look for footprints or drag marks towards the river, but can't find anything. *The group commences traveling for a while. Once settling down for the evening, Clay requests that Warren keeps a watch on Ellen's body. Rhekki and Rogg go and throw rocks by the river. *During their long rest, Clancy attempts to discern what the staff is. It's revealed to be the Staff of the Python. *Through the night, Warren calls Clancy over after he hears a strange rasping sound. After some investigation, the creature reveals itself to be strangely eel-like with a flat head, dark scales, and many legs. The creature doesn't seem to notice anyone except Warren, who it turns its head towards and immediately becomes aggressive. *Clancy attempts to fire Jericho's rifle, but it misfires. He wakes the rest of the party up with a back up revolver. The behir crawls around the rocks to aim lightning towards Warren and Clancy, both of which successfully dodge the brunt of the powerful attack. *The rest of the party is awake and begin attacking the behir. Rogg and Keegan move into melee, Clancy jumps onto its back and attempts to slash it with his claws. Rogg is swallowed and Clancy is restrained within its coils. *The behir begins to run, threatening to kidnap Rogg and Clancy. While it takes some attacks from both Keegan and Warren as it flees, Clay misty steps away from the party and shoots the creature down to successfully kill it. *Rogg breaks through the carcass of the behir, cutting his way through. Keegan finds a small, leather satchel where there appears to be someone's journal. *Jaime investigates the corpse of the creature. During this her mannerisms change, including her voice, at which point she describes the monster to be a behir. Everyone seems to be very, very confused by this - including Jaime. *Keegan recalls an item mentioned in the journal, the legendary "Aethecrist" or "Witch Cleaver", that was broken in a battle with an ancient blue dragon. Keegan also finds some items in the body of the behir, but doesn't find anything resembling a sword within the contents. Items Found: * Staff of the Python by Clancy? Chat Log <---Previous [[Episode 25|Next--->]]